Chapter 299: Playing With Fire
Translator: Pika
“No! Of course I’m not okay!”
Zu An angrily crawled to his feet. Being flung to the ground so easily by this normally weak and delicate-looking girl was just too shameful.
“I wasn’t ready just now. Again!”
Zheng Dan reached her hands out to support him. A sweet smile appeared on her face. “Sure!”
Zu An had to admit that this woman deserved her spot in the Top Ten of the Sweetheart Ranking. Her face and figure were both top-notch.
Of course, everyone else in the top ten were also exceptional beauties.
Only that brat Huanzhao seems to fall a little short.
However, she was still rather young. Given a few more years, she’d probably blossom into a great beauty as well, just like her older sister.
“Ah Zu, are you ready?” There was a big smile on Zheng Dan’s face.
“I’m ready.” Zu An didn’t allow himself to act carelessly again. Ki covered his entire body, tensing it like a compressed spring.
Despite this, he was flipped upside down again. His body fell heavily to the ground.
“Ow... my back...”
What the heck is up with this girl today? Why is she suddenly so fierce?
The most irritating part of all of this was that her smile was only growing sweeter!
Zheng Dai helped him up to his feet again. “Sorry, I should have gone a bit easier on you,” she said with an apologetic smile.
Zu An stared at her silently.
Was this woman doing this on purpose?
“Again!”
Zu An still wasn’t convinced. He assumed a ready stance again.
Surprisingly, Zheng Dan refused him. She shook her head and said, “I think we should stop. All of your strength has been invested into your movement and sword techniques, and so you lack training in your close combat skills. I forgot about this earlier. I truly am sorry.”
Even though she was apologizing, a triumphant look twinkled in the corners of her eyes. Everything that happened today had been done on purpose!
The Sang clan had ordered her to investigate the mysterious expert backing Zu An. She had almost been exposed the last time she tried to pry into his secrets, so she had no choice but to take a more careful approach.
She finally thought of a way to do so.
Her goal today was precisely to humiliate Zu An. She didn’t think any man could accept such shame.
He’d definitely want a chance to redeem himself.
She’d seen firsthand his prowess at swordplay, and didn’t dare to challenge him to a duel using swordplay, in case she slipped up. However, the gap between their skill levels at hand-to-hand combat was just too vast!
In order to be able to beat her, Zu An might ask the hidden expert backing him for advice. As long as that expert passed on a method to him, she could use it to deduce that expert’s background.
Moreover, even if she couldn’t figure out who that expert was, she would be certain that he at least had someone backing him.
Zu An was stunned. He seemed to have heard very similar words two days ago.
Back then, Pei Mianman had given him a method to protect himself if he ever encountered Chen Xuan while unarmed.
That technique she had taught him back then was none other than the Entangling Feathersilk Art!
Sigh, too many things have been going on recently. I almost forgot about this.
Zu An carefully recalled the technique, then calmed his nerves. “Don’t worry. It will definitely be different this time.”
Zheng Dan snickered inside. All men are the same! They just can’t let go of their pride.
She had fully expected Zu An’s words. Zheng Dan smiled and reached out her hand. “All right, let’s go again.”
As soon as she said that, her hand wrapped around his arm like a snake. Having prepared her stance, she planned to throw him again.
Out of the blue, his hand flowed gracefully like water, and he gently freed himself from her grasp, while turning the tables on her and grabbing her wrist.
Zheng Dan was alarmed. She twisted her wrist, relying on her flexibility to pull her hand away. “What is this...”
Zu An didn’t give her a single moment to catch her breath. Before she could even finish her sentence, he seized the opportunity to continue his offensive.
Zheng Dan realized that his technique was exceptionally exquisite, containing several unexpected moves. She immediately gathered her focus. She couldn’t afford any distractions at all!
In the blink of an eye, the two of them exchanged over ten moves.
Zheng Dan was completely bewildered. Even though she rarely engaged in actual fights, she had yet to meet someone who could match her skill in this area. She had always been able to subdue her opponent in just a few moves.
However, this Zu An employed a really strange set of techniques that seemed well on par with hers. She almost lost her center of gravity in more than a few instances.
If Zu An had started with this technique, she wouldn’t have found herself in such a difficult situation. She would have gone all out from the start.
However, having managed to easily throw Zu An a couple of times, she had been convinced that he had almost no experience in unarmed combat, and let down her guard.
Unexpectedly, this guy had pulled out such a strange technique. Caught off guard, she lost the initiative.
Seizing the initiative was extremely important in hand-to-hand combat.
The one who gained the initiative from the start would always have the initiative.
Now that she had lost the initiative, it became extremely hard to turn things around.
Wave after wave of his attacks crashed down on her. He didn’t give her a single window of opportunity, and it was all she could do just to counter his moves.
Zu An’s Entangling Feathersilk Art had started off slightly unpolished. However, the longer the fight went on, the smoother and easier it was to execute.
After close to a hundred moves, Zu An finally fashioned an opening, and twisted Zheng Dan’s arm behind her back.
Zheng Dan didn’t have the courage to pop her own arm out of its socket, like Zu An had done in his fight against Pei Mianman. Her face grew horrified, and she kicked out backwards, her foot lashing out like a tail.
There was no way Zu An would give her the chance. He grabbed her leg and shoved her forward.
Zheng Dan finally lost her center of gravity while in mid-air, and she found herself pressed up against the wall in front of her.
Zu An locked her body firmly in place with his, not letting her move an inch. He leaned in close to her ear and said triumphantly, “So? Do you admit defeat?”
“I don’t! You only seized the advantage through a sneak attack!” Zheng Dan said angrily while biting her lips.
If he hadn’t tricked her at the start, she wouldn’t have been captured, no matter how strong his technique was.
“You were clearly the one who made the first move. How can you blame me for launching a sneak attack?” Zu An said with a smile.
“You’re shameless! Why didn’t you use this technique from the beginning? You just had to pretend like you didn’t know anything, which caused me to drop my guard!” Zheng Dan struggled, but all of her key joints were restricted. She couldn’t move at all.
That was, unless she used elemental ki.
However, using her elemental ki in such a place would easily draw unwanted attention, and would only make things even more troublesome.
She decided to give up on her struggling, and use this chance to see if she could learn anything from him now.
“It’s my fault for having a natural soft spot for girls. I was worried about hurting you, so I didn’t go too hard on you at first. How was I supposed to know that you would go all out from the start?” Zu An could still feel his back complaining. Those throws of hers really had been fierce!
Zheng Dan bit her lip. “What is this unarmed technique of yours called? It seems pretty formidable. Can you teach it to me?”
If she could obtain the name of this technique, then the Sang clan could easily look into it.
Pei Mianman’s warning was fresh in Zu An’s mind. “Sorry, no can do,” he said with a smile.
“Our relationship has already grown so close, and yet you still can’t teach it to me? Are you in a tight spot because you need to keep this a secret?” Zheng Dan probed tentatively.
Zu An’s eyes narrowed. This woman really is up to something. She’s still trying to gather intelligence on the experts backing me.
If he hadn’t been on guard right from the start, he might have just spilled everything out to her.
“You really are a cunning person. You’re even hiding a sword inside your clothes! Are you secretly plotting against someone?” Zheng Dan snickered.
“Sword?” Zu An was stunned. He lowered his head to take a look, and his expression grew bizarre.
Zheng Dan felt a shudder run through her entire body. She too had realized what was actually going on. Her entire face flushed a bright red.
Feeling her terrifically supple body, Zu An had to admit that this woman really was top-notch.
“Get off me!” Even Zheng Dan’s ears had gone completely red.
Even though she looked like she was angry, Zu An didn’t receive any Rage points.
This woman is still putting on an act!
Not only did he not let go, he instead pressed up against her even harder. She felt his warm breath right next to her ear. “But I don’t want to let go,” he breathed. “Wasn’t this how I examined your leg the last time?”
As he said this, she felt a hand caress her thigh.